The Girl in the Attic
by Rayne Forever
Summary: Zack becomes heavily involved with a murder. The victim's friend is his idol. But she runs after a stand with him. She's a suspect, her father's a suspect, her old teacher, or her ex-boyfriend. And Zack just wants all the answers from her.
1. Chapter 1

She walked down the hall to the linen closet to get a towel for her shower. She opened the door, and heard something creak overhead. She looked up, craning her neck. She moved to under the pull for the attic steps and stepped back as she brought the string down.

A rotting corpse dropped to her floor, the skin eaten away, flies swarming around it. There was blood coating what was still there. A few bugs were crawling around it.

She screamed and then smelled it. She'd smelled a lot of bad things, but this – this wasn't describable. The rotting flesh and her fear overwhelmed her, and she dashed to her bathroom, throwing up her baked potato and chicken salad.

"Hey, Bones," said Booth. He was knocking on her door at a little past ten that night. "Bones!"

He heard the lock turning inside, and the door opened to reveal Bones standing in a silk robe. Her hair was ruffled and this way and that.

"I was asleep, Booth," she said.

"I can tell," he said. "Nice bed head. We've got a murder to solve. Come on, get dressed, and let's go."

When she was ready, they got into Booth's black SUV, and he started driving. They talked mildly during the drive, and then Booth pulled up to a small white house with all the lights on. Two cop cars were sitting in the driveway along with a 1967 Mustang.

"Oh, now _that_ is a car," said Booth as they went inside.

There was a young woman who couldn't be more than twenty sitting on the couch, clutching a pink bear in her hands with wide eyes. She was rocking back and forth, and seemed to be muttering something under her breath. Three cops were standing around the room.

She looked up at them as they entered.

"I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth, and this is Dr. Temperance Brennan," said Booth. "You?"

"Chase Archer," she said.

"She looks horrible," said Dr. Brennan.

She meant the dark shadows under Chases's dark blue eyes. Brennan meant the lank look to her black hair. And Bones meant the sickly tint to her skin. The black tank top she wore was slightly worn looking.

"The remains are this way," said one of the police officers.

The two were led back through the house until they came upon the crime scene tape. They passed under it and Brennan knelt by the corpse.

"No wonder she's upset," said Booth, covering his nose with a handkerchief. Bones pulled on some rubber gloves and went about inspecting the remains. She pulled away a necklace with a little blue mushroom hanging from it.

"See if she recognizes it," said Brennan, handing it to Booth. He took with pinched, gloved fingers.

He went out to her and knelt in front of her. The muttering stopped, and he noticed how she titled her left wrist out of view.

"Do you recognize this?" he asked, showing her the necklace.

"Oh, God," she whispered and ran to her phone. She punched in a number, hurriedly, and put the phone to her ear, bouncing on her toes. "Pick up, pick up, please."

When she got the answering machine, and put the phone back in its cradle, she sunk to her knees.

"That's Autumn's," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "She always wears that thing."

"Thank you," said Booth. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she looked away, tears falling from her eyes. She shut them in hopes of keeping them from betraying her. But they did, and Booth saw.

"Why would anyone kill Autumn?" she asked, looking up at Booth. "Why?"

"Can you think of anyone that might not have liked Autumn?" Booth asked, helping her up.

"Mrs. – God, what was her name? Oh yeah. Um, Mrs. Hampton," said Chase. "She hated Autumn and I. She was our eighth grade English teacher, but I haven't seen her since that last day of eighth grade, and that was in California.

"My dad didn't like her that much, but I haven't seen him since my parents got divorced," she went on. "And there was also Steven."

"Who's that?" asked Booth.

"Her ex-boyfriend. Or the last one I knew she had," said Chase, wiping away smeared eyeliner and tears. She sucked in a deep breath and went on. "He was possessive of Autumn, and he wanted me gone. He thought I was a bad influence. Hey, I wasn't the bad influence there. I helped Autumn through her classes through high school."

"So her ex," said Booth. "Did he ever follow you or Autumn around?"

"Autumn a lot," she said. "A lot."

"Hey, Booth, I'm done with the remains. It can all go back to the Jeffersonian," said Brennan walking to them and pulling off the blue gloves she wore.

"Pack it up!" said Booth. He turned to Chase and handed her a card. "Call me if you can think of anything else. We might also have some more questions for you."

Chase nodded and tightened her pale fist around the card. "Thanks."

"We'll catch the guy who did this, don't worry," said Booth.

She nodded again, and the cops packed up as Booth and Brennan took the remains to the Jeffersonian. Chase slid down to the floor again, sobbing and clutching her body.

When Zack slid his card through the scanner and climbed the stairs with Hodgins the next morning, he did not expect to see a living person lying on their examination table with a stuffed penguin under her head and a security coat over her body.

"What should we do?" he asked Hodgins.

"Wake her?" Hodgins responded.

The woman screamed and sat up, the coat falling away. She pulled her knees to her chest, rubbing her eyes and pressing her forehead to her knees.

"God," she whispered.

"Uh, Miss, why are you here?" asked Hodgins.

"This is where a person would say 'Oh my, God,'" said Zack. He stepped forward, his lips pressed and brow furled. His hand was outstretched towards Chase.

"Uh, hi," she said, shaking his hand. "Who are you?"

"Zack Addy, Dr. Brennan's grad student," he answered. "You're Chase Archer. It's an honor."

"Yeah, I know who I am," she said, sliding off the table.

"Why are you here?" asked Hodgins again.

"Oh, I couldn't sleep last night and I came here," said Chase, running a hand through her crazy hair and picking up her penguin. "The security guard on duty let me sleep here. Those are quite comfortable. But cold. I'd suggest sleeping on one if you had a lumbar problem or rods in your back."

"I will remember that," said Zack. "You have two doctorates, correct?"

"Yeah, one in sociology and the other in applied engineering," she said.

"I'm getting one in applied engineering," said Zack.

"Keep working," she said. She yawned and stretched.

Zack was watching her with great interest, observing how she moved and what she did to pop muscles that needed adjusted and bones that were slightly out of place. But he noticed how she kept her left wrist from their view.

"What's wrong with your left wrist?" he asked.

"What? Nothing," she responded quickly, straightening up and smacking her back on the table. "Ow shit. Ow. Ah!"

"Are you okay?" asked Zach as he and Hodgins moved forward to help her. Zack bent down and saw a bleeding cut on her back. "You delivered enough pressure to your lower back and caused it to open an old wound, it appears."

"Oh, yeah, the spot where I had surgery a few years back," she said, grunting and wincing. Hodgins was letting her squeeze his hand.

"Why'd you have surgery?" he asked as Zack went through drawers to look for some bandages.

"I had seriously messed up my back," said Chase. "It came from years of bending over text books, just doing math problems, over and over again."

Zack came back momentarily with some white bandages. He applied them over her cut and pressed down on the adhesive part of the bandages.

"Thanks," she said. "I keep getting hurt as of late. It's not fun. Nor does it help heal old scars."

"What do you mean?" asked Zack.

Chase sighed and looked up as more beeping commenced from the steps to the area. Dr. Brennan and Booth were walking towards them.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I couldn't stay there," she said, wrapping her arms around herself. "Not after finding Autumn. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her. She was there! She was asking for help and I couldn't help her! My dad was back, and he kept me away from her! And it was my fault! He said this would happen! He said as soon as he found out about Autumn and I that I would lose her and it would be my fault. He was right. It is my fault." She was crying hysterically.

Brennan shared a look with the other two scientists, and they led Chase away. Booth and Brennan had the remains brought up.

"She doesn't act like Zack in the slightest," said Brennan. "She doesn't act like her IQ is a point higher than his."

"She's been through a lot," said Booth. "She lost her best friend, and from what she was saying, girlfriend. She also had a rough childhood. I looked her up last night. She looked familiar. Chase Archer had an abusive father. Her dad started hitting her when she was seven. It went downhill from there. He was verbally, mentally and physically abusive. She has problems with death and betrayal. She doesn't get close to people anymore. Hasn't since the last set of friends she made in eighth grade. When she met Autumn."

"But she should know that past memories are irrational and don't play into the matter at hand," said Brennan.

"You don't forget – or push aside – something like that, Bones," said Booth.

***  
"I did a facial reconstruction on the skull," said Angela. Chase was sitting on the floor, watching as the team worked. She held up a picture.

"Autumn," said Chase. She reached up and pulled the picture from Angela's hand. She stared at the print out. Autumn's face stared out at her. Her face shape was perfect – rounded on the cheeks and coming to a perfect point on her chin. The lips were the correct size, wide and plump. "Only way it could be perfect was if you lightened the hair color and added blonde highlights."

She handed the picture to Booth and stood up, straightening her shirt.

"I need to go home and change," she said. "But I really don't want to."

"I'll go with you," said Zack immediately.

"What?" said Brennan and Chase together.

"I'll go," he said again. "I want to take her home."

"I don't mind," said Chase. "As long as there isn't something you need him for."

"No, go ahead," said Brennan.

"Thank you," he said, smiling.

Zack and Chase walked off, Chase holding the penguin in her arms. They left the Jeffersonian and got into Chase's car. She started the car and backed out of her spot. She and Zack spoke of her throughout the ride.

"Why don't you want to go home?" he asked.

"Bad memories stay with me more often than good memories," she said. "I just can't believe someone would kill Autumn. She is – was – so likable."

"You should just block the memories," said Zack.

"I wish I could," said Chase as she pulled into her driveway. "I really wish I could."

"What do you mean?" he asked, but Chase was already out of the car, walking to her front door through the fallen leaves.

Chase ignored him as she unlocked the door and opened it. She pushed the door open and stood there as Zack walked in. Chase forced herself in as Zack bent down by her bookcase, filled with the books she had written about the macabre, death and damnation – the alienation felt by a Gothic, depressed genius – or whatever dark thoughts entered her head as she sat there, frustrated with being unable to decide upon how to best keep what she thought and remembered at bay.

"You're work," he said, grabbing his favorite, _Sleeping Alone Forever_. "This one's exceptionally impressive with the mentions of French burials and what the idea of setting yourself up to rot for eternity in one of the catacombs under the city streets of Paris was like. It was amazing."

"Thank you," she said. "I wrote that when I was fifteen, my last few months of high school, I think. The timeline gets messed up in my head. Don't remember time very well. But you probably know that."

"Are you working on anything else?" he asked. He put the book back and grabbed another.

"That one was Autumn's favorite. I had a lesbian couple in because of what she was like. That one's largely about the death of gays because no accepts them in this world," she said. "But, yeah, I am. I'm not certain about it yet, but I went with the undead for this one. Vampires and zombies. Monsters. I think they represent our demons that we have inside of us."

"They're not real," he said.

"I know," said Chase, walking to her room. Zack stood up and followed after her. "But they sell really well. Hardly anyone thinks like we do, Zack. We're . . . special."

"It didn't do much good in high school," he said.

"High school should be the definition of hell," she said darkly, tossing the penguin on her bed.

Her room was painted dark purple with images of death hanging on the walls. The ceiling had an accurate portrayal of the Milky Way galaxy painted on it. A desk and a laptop were in the corner, under a window draped heavily in black curtains. A bookshelf and crates full of notebooks littered the room.

She sunk onto her bed, looking up at Zack. "High school wasn't our friend. High school was where we stuck out. We are smarter than our teachers. We have better jobs than any of the jocks that are there, and we're better, Zack. It doesn't matter what they think us, but we're better. Unfortunately, I'm still trying to prove that to myself."

"You are better!" he insisted. "Really."

"I know you think highly of me," she said. "But you shouldn't. There's a lot about me that's not seen in a very positive light. Get my medical record sometime. You'll see what I mean."

Chase grabbed some clothes out of her closet.

"Stay here while I shower, okay? And if anyone comes a-knocking, just ignore them. Unless it's Booth or Dr. Brennan or you know them. Uh, and if the phone rings, just ignore it," she said. "My editor can deal with not hearing my voice for thirty minutes."

Zack nodded vigorously. Chase gave him a little smile and then turned on her heel, walking to the bathroom.

"Hey, wait, Zack?" she called.

"Yeah?" he asked, walking towards her voice.

"Can you get me two towels?" she asked, pointing to the end of the hall, near the linen closet, near where she found Autumn.

"Yeah," he said and went down the hall. "This fear is irrational, though."

"Yeah, I know," she said. "I figured that out a while ago. Just . . . emotions aren't easy for me to push away. That worked for so long, and now it doesn't." She took the towels from Zack. "Thanks."

She stepped into the bathroom and shut the door while Zack walked back to her bedroom. As he sat on her bed, loud, angry metal came from the bathroom. He jumped, surprised to hear it. The "singer" was screaming out the lyrics with so little enunciation that he couldn't be understood.

But he heard the water start up and the curtain slide across the metal bar, anyway. He picked up the copy of _Bat Hearts and Puppy-Dog Tails_ from her bedside table and started reading it. As he got into chapter two, he heard a piercing scream and the music stopped.

"Zack!" came the panicked scream of Chase. "It's _blood_!"

Zack dropped the book and ran to her, fumbling with the knob as he opened the door. When he got it open, Chase was standing on a bathmat, covered in a towel that barely covered what needed to be. And there were so many scars on her, so many marks that hadn't faded from her back and arms and legs.

He looked at the water coming from the shower. The only blood was on her counter with two razor blades. One had fresh blood and the other had a few flecks of dried blood on it.

"There's no blood from the shower," he said. "Just there. Why's that there? Why are there so many scars on you?"

"Not now, okay? Just, just don't leave," she said, taking his hand. "It goes away when you're here."

"That's a sense of safety you feel around me," he explained.

"I know that," she said. She paused for a long time, trying to form the right thoughts. "Get in the shower with me."

"That can't serve a real purpose," he said.

"Yes it does," she said. "I'm not afraid with you. And I don't want to be afraid. I hate it. I hate being vulnerable. Bad things happen then. And I'm sure that's how Autumn died – was killed."

"Fine," he said.

He pulled off his wine-colored t-shirt and then the long-sleeved, gray shirt under that. He undid his belt and slipped off his jeans, then his underwear. He was pulling off his shoes and socks as Chase dropped the towel. She stepped into the shower, and Zack followed her, amazed that his sexual fantasy was happening. And he rarely had sexual fantasies.

"Shit," said Chase, sitting up. It was roughly ten o'clock, and she still needed to pump herself with some medicine. "Shit."

"What's wrong?" asked Zack from next to her. She jumped and fell from the bed, grabbing onto his arm with her left hand. "Why are there cuts of varying depth on your wrist?"

Chase was hurriedly dressing and brushing her hair and loading her pockets.

"Chase!" he said, running after her as she dashed out the door, grabbing something from the edge of her desk.

She was running out the bathroom with something as she was pulling on a coat and grabbing her car keys.

"That was fun," she called over her shoulder. "And I'm sorry."

She shoved Zack into a closet and heard him groan as everything toppled onto him. She opened the door to see him unconscious. She knelt beside him, felt his pulse, double-checking her calculations of what she had done and kissed his cheek. She went back to her room and packed everything. She loaded up her car and then left a note for Zack in his hand. She put the penguin in his arms and kissed him again.

"I'm really sorry," she said again.


	2. Chapter 2

Zack groaned, moving slightly. All the stored items had been removed before Chase left. His eyes opened and he sat up, clutching his head.

"What happened?" he groaned.

Everything flooded back to him. He remembered his stand with Chase, her shoving him into this closet. He tested out the movement he had in each of his limbs and noted they were fine. So he stood up. The world swam in front of his eyes, and he shut them, grasping at the wall with his other hand. Then he felt the note. He stumbled to the couch opposite him and sunk into it, uncrumpling the note.

_Zack-_

_I really didn't want to do that to you, but I knew you wouldn't let me leave if I didn't. This makes me a suspect, if I wasn't already one. And just so you know, I didn't kill Autumn. I have your number in my phone, and I'll be in touch if I really need you. _

_I left like I always do when the memories become too much. I packed up. I'll probably be back. Eventually. That's why a lot of stuff is still there. Do me a favor though? Pack my stuff up in boxes and store it somewhere where nothing can get to it? I would love for it to be in good shape._

_Last night was fun. Thanks. I needed something like that._

_-Chase_

_P.S. I have some painkillers in my bathroom cabinet. You might want them._

Zack stumbled to the cabinet, still holding the note. He opened the cabinet and was surprised by how many prescription and over-the-counter drugs she had. And what appeared to be street drugs. He went through them, truly shocked the find some of the prescription drugs weren't even for her.

He got his cell phone out and called Hodgins, taking some aspirin.

"Hodgins!" he said when he answered. "Can you get me? I'm at Chase's. She's split town, and, assuming from her cabinet, a drug addict. And highly depressed."

"She split town?" said Hodgins. "Wow, buddy, you picked the wrong girl to totally want to screw."

"We already did," said Zack. "But that-"

"Nice job, Zack!" said Hodgins, laughing. "What? Is that your first."

"Not at all. I need you to pick me up at Chase's house. She's taken her Mustang and left," he said. "She left me a note, explaining why she left. She understands why she's a suspect now."

"I'll be right there," said Hodgins and hung up.

When they returned to the lab, Dr. Brennan and Angela were on the platform, talking with each other as Brennan went over the remains.

"Zack got laid," announced Hodgins as they stepped up.

"Nice job, Zack!" said Angela. "Who with?"

"Chase Archer," said Zack. "But it's a natural occurrence in the body when hor-"

"I just figured out cause of death," said Brennan. "Her throat was slit. Look. Here. Between C3 and C4, there's chipped bone. It'd have to be something thin."

"Like a razor blade," said Zack. "Chase really is a suspect. There's two razor blades at her house. We have to go back."

"I'll be doing that," said Booth, coming up from behind. "And you Zack, no one else is to know you slept with her. Got that?"

"Yes," said Zack. "You might want to try to find Chase, too. She left town." He held his hand out with the note. He spun around before Booth could grab the note and stared at Dr. Brennan. "Did you say we were looking for razors?"

"No, you did," said Brennan.

"Okay," said Zack. "I think I just figured out something about Chase."

"What? Other than being a drug addict?" said Hodgins.

"Yes, obviously," said Zack. "She was using a razor blade to cut her wrist. That explains why she would hide her wrist. But why? Why won't anyone tell me what's wrong with her!"

"Whoa, buddy, cool the anger," said Hodgins.

"I-I think I love her," said Zack. "That's the only way to explain what I feel when thinking of her. The chemical balance in my body is horribly unbalanced and my heart flutters. That's love, correct?"

"Yes, sweetie, that's love," said Angela. "It's a wonderful feeling that you need to keep and experience more often."

"It's irrational," he said, swallowing the feeling. "Now. You need to find Chase. Before something happens to her."

"What could possibly happen to her?"

Later that night, while they were still going over Autumn's body, Zack got a call. They had the tox screen back, and Autumn had high levels of marijuana in her system at the time of her death. Autumn had been dead for six-eight days.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hey, Zack," came the slurred voice of Chase. "Guess what."

"What?"

"I'm back in D.C.," she said, hiccupping. "God, West Virginia bored me to tears. Come pick me up, why don't you? We can go back to my house for a little fun, 'kay?"

"Uh," said Zack.

"What is it?" asked Hodgins, barely looking up from examining a bug found on the victim.

"Chase is back," said Zack as she hung up. "And apparently highly intoxicated."

He did a trace on her cell phone number, and found the bar she was at.

"I need to go get her," he said.

"Alright," said Hodgins. "Take Booth!"

"I will!" Zack responded as he rushed out of the Jeffersonian, dialing Booth's number.

Booth picked him up and took him to the bar where he had gotten the call from. Booth parked the car, and Zack flew out. Booth was shocked to see the squint move so fast. He got out as well and jogged after him.

They approached the hostess inside the front door of the bar as their ears were pounded upon by loud techno music.

"Is there a young woman here, approximately 175.26 cm, black hair just below the shoulder blades, dark blue eyes with shadows under them?" asked Zack. "She'd be very intoxicated."

"She's over there," said the young blonde, pointing to Chase, who was hunched over a bottle of vodka. "She's been drinking a lot."

Booth and Zack walked over to her as she turned her head and saw them.

"Zacky!" she shouted, her voice an octave higher, and the word so slurred it was hard to make out. She took a drink and got up to walk to them. But as she took that drink, she dropped the bottle, clutching her throat and convulsing on the ground.

Zack and Booth ran the short distance to her and knelt beside her. Zack grabbed the bottle and put the cap on it as Booth tried to get the seizures to stop.

"Booth," said Zack.

"What?" he asked.

"There's a man laughing at us," he stated. "Should you follow him?"

"Yep," said Booth and got up. He chased after the man as Zack called for an ambulance.

The ambulance arrived when Booth got back with the guy who was laughing.

"This is Steven Montgomery," he said. "Autumn's ex-boyfriend."

Chase was put into the ambulance, and Zack went with her, giving the bottle of vodka to Booth.

"Have Hodgins test it to see what made her convulse," said Zack. The ambulance doors shut, and Booth took Steven to his SUV, cuffing him and throwing him in the backseat.

"Interrogation time," said Bones as she and Booth went into the room. Zack was sitting in the private room behind the glass with a laptop for Chase to watch.

"Do you own any razor blades?" Booth asked Steven later in interrogation.

"Yeah," said Steven. "I use them to cut out cardboard silhouettes before I go to target practice."

"What of?" he asked.

"Chase," he replied, smirking.

Steven Montgomery had long, straight blonde hair past his chin. His sea green eyes were lined in black, and he was well tanned.

"We did a study of the vodka bottle Chase had at the bar," said Brennan. "Your fingerprints were on it, and Gamma Hydroxybutric Acid was found mixed in with that. Or GHB, as it's known by. It's odorless, tasteless, and colorless. And in an overdose, it can cause seizures. Well, that's what happened to Chase."

"She's a bitch," he said. "She was always making Autumn smoke."

"Autumn did that on her own," said Chase from the laptop. "Autumn got me into it. The marijuana was hers. I just borrowed and got contact high. Difference."

"Chase says it's more like the other way around," said Zack into the mic for Booth's earpiece.

"But we believe that it was the other way around," said Booth. "She got Chase into smoking. Autumn smoked before Chase ever did."

"Where were you six to eight days ago?" he asked.

"What time of day?" asked Steven.

"Between all of those days."

"At home. Alone."

"When did you last see Autumn?"

"Seven days ago. Best sex ever."

"Hey, Zack," said Chase from the laptop.

"Yes?" responded Zack.

"I'm sorry I knocked you out," she said. Chase had her stomach pumped to get the GHB from her system. She was so weak, so tired.

"Stop apologizing," said Zack. "It's pointless."

"You're a sick bastard, you know that?" said Booth.

"Yeah, I know," said Steven, grinning.

"Dammit," whispered Chase.

"What is it?" asked Zack, looking at the screen.

"My father's outside the door," she said, shrinking down in the bed, trying to hide under the covers.

"What's so bad about that?" he asked.

"A lot," she whispered, her eyes wide.

"Booth, someone needs to go to the hospital and get Chase's father," Zack said.

"Fine," he said. "Let's go, Bones. You – you're staying here as a suspect to murder."

"Who's dead?" he asked.

"Autumn," spat Booth.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Don't do drugs!**

Chase stepped away from the hospitable doors. She covered her eyes from the harsh sun, and she and Zack stepped into the car provided by the Jeffersonian – driver included.

"Booth and Brennan are waiting on your father's lawyer to show up before they can question him," said Zack.

"He's not my father," Chase said, crossing her arms over her chest.

He gave her a worried look. He cared for her as much as he did for his family. He saw the cuts over her left wrist. He wanted answers. He needed answers. But Chase wouldn't give him answers.

"I cleaned out your cabinet," he said.

"What did you get rid of?" she shouted. "I need some of those or everything collapses around me."

"Like what? The marijuana?" he snapped back.

"That's only for special occasions," she said after a minute. "But I need my depression, PTSD, anxiety disorder, and ADD meds. You wouldn't like me as much if I didn't have them. Though I find I can be quite fun without the ADD meds."

"I threw the prescription drugs without your name on them and the street drugs," said Zack.

"The K2 is legal!" she declared. "It's _fake_ weed. God."

"Getting high isn't the answer," he said.

"Have you ever been high?" she asked. "It's fun. It's awesome. Especially light shows. Those are amazing."

"There is no reason for me to get high," said Zack.

Chase sighed, putting her face in her hands. She shook her head, and the driver slowed, taking a turn towards the Jeffersonian.

"So any luck with finding more evidence?" she asked after a long silence.

"Yes, actually," said Zack. "Her throat was slit. So far, a razor blade is our prime murder weapon suspect."

"So I'm still a suspect, aren't I?" she asked. "But I didn't do that! I couldn't. I love her."

"How did you love her?" asked Zack.

"We had sex, yeah," said Chase. "We dated. I still love her."

Zack wasn't sure what to think with this. Chase slammed her hand against her knee suddenly.

"That's why she was in D.C.!" she cried, Zack jumping. "She was gonna see me."

Chase's lower lip quivered, and Zack pulled her into his arms. But Chase refused to let herself cry. She swallowed the lump in her throat, no matter how much it hurt. As they arrived at the Jeffersonian, Zack got a call from Booth. After a second of conversation, the two hung up.

"What?" asked Chase. "What'd he want?"

"Your father was in France the night she died," he explained. "He got back the night before he came to see you. He said he came to your house, and when you never answered, he started searching hospitals."

"He knows where I live?" whispered Chase, the waiting on them to get out. Her world was falling around her. How did he find her? How? "I have to move. Again. Shit."

"Why?" asked Zack.

Chase got out, wrapping her arms around herself. She moved in a blind daze, tripping over everything. Zack ran up to her, and helped her along. They stepped into the Jeffersonian. He swiped his card through the scanner and they climbed the stairs to the platform. Hodgins rushed up to them immediately.

"I found something," he said.

"So did I," said Chase, falling into a chair. "It's my entire fault."

"No it's not," said Zack. "Stop thinking like that."

"Okay, so no one cares that I looked at her tox screen again when I wasn't distracted by Zack and found snake poison? Yep, okay, carry on then," said Hodgins, turning around to walk off.

"What kind of snake?" asked Chase.

"_Micrurus fulvius," _said Hodgins. "New World coral snake. And you want to guess what else I found?"

"The world's being invaded by aliens?" asked Chase sarcastically. In the very short time she had been here, she knew quite a bit about the different members that make up their family.

Hodgins stammered, trying to find words. He sighed and said, "They are already here. _But_, if you're done with the snide comments, I also made a list of pet shops that sell them in the D.C. area."

"And?" said Zack.

"And? As in a word implying two or more things?" replied Hodgins.

"And what else?" said Chase. "You're a pain in the ass."

"I know," he said, smiling. "I gave a list to Booth and Dr. Brennan. They're out searching now."

Brennan and Booth were just walking out of their first store as Hodgins was saying this. They didn't have any luck getting useful information; only two were sold in the last ten years and both had been returned. They climbed into Booth's SUV and he started it up. As they drove, each were lost in their own thoughts, each irrelevant to what was happening.

As they pulled up in front of the next store, Booth received a call from the Maryland P.D.

"Booth," he said.

Brennan watched him as he spoke, trying to hear the conversation.

"There's another one dead," he said. "Found at Steven Montgomery's house. They're trying to get a name."

Brennan nodded. "We should go see about the body first. I'll have Hodgins check out the snakes."

She called up Hodgins as they headed north, towards Montgomery's house. Booth sped down the highway, took a few wrong turns, but otherwise showed up unscathed.

An officer showed them in. He didn't enter beyond the front door. Brennan pulled on gloves as they stepped through.

"Oh God," said Booth, gulping.

"He must have put time into this," said Brennan.

Hanging from the ceiling fan in the center of the room was a young, adult male. He was extremely tall and had nothing but muscle on his body. His dark hair was cut short and gelled up in the front. His eyes had been left open, and they were staring towards the attic. His palms were sliced, as were his wrists.

But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the room itself. The walls were covered in bloody hand prints and long streaks of blood. Pinned to the furniture were animal sacrifices. A pig skull sat under the man's body.

"This guy needs to be locked up," said Booth. And after a slight pause, "forever."

"I agree."

Brennan walked up to the body and took a picture of the face. She sent the picture to Hodgins and told him to send Zack down with the equipment and a truck.

Hodgins, himself, was out with Chase. She refused to be left alone, didn't want to work on her book, and had nothing better to do. They were sitting in his car, about to get out to check out another pet shop, when he got the picture. He stared at the picture, looked at Chase looking at him, and sighed.

"What?" she asked. "What'd Brennan and Booth find?"

"Do you really want to know?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said.

Hodgins sighed again but handed her his phone.

"Alex!" she screamed, dropping the phone, tears already springing to her eyes. But she wiped them away furiously. She shut her eyes, pressing her lips tightly together. "That bastard is going to die. And it will be a very painful death."

* * *

**A/N: As a note, I in NO WAY endorse doing drugs. Nor have I done drugs. I have friends that do, yes, and I'm relating their experiences. Nor do I endorse animal sacrifices, murder or owning poisonous snakes. Oh, Bejesus, I hate snakes. **

**I also apologize for how LONG this took to get out. God, I'm so sorry. And it will be quite a while more before I do get to update again. My spring break's coming up. **

**Review please!**

**xXRayneXx**


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